Family by Choice
by The-Phandom-Queen
Summary: Alex is adopted by Ben and grows close to K-Unit, but Ben is captured on a mission by Scorpia and won't give them the information they want. How about a little persuasion in the form of a loved one? T for small torture in later scenes.


**(AN: I probably should be working on my Harry Potter fanfiction "Why didn't you tell us?" but don't want it to seem forced or rushed as I don't exactly know where to go. So just a little Alex Rider fic where we presume Alex was adopted by Ben instead of the Pleasures and became closer to K-Unit after they were informed of his secret.)**

 _Disclaimer: Me no own, you no sue_

He heard the whispers as he walked down the hall and stubbornly kept his head down. He had known his reappearance at Brooklands would cause a stir, but really? In his head he scoffed, couldn't they have grown up a _little_ in the year he was gone?

He trudged down the hall towards his locker, searching the irksome crowd for the one friendly face he could rely on. Reaching his locker, he still hadn't spotted Tom and he sighed as he swung open the locker, nearly hitting a group of girls who stood, gossiping, nearby, who in turn glared at him and stalked off. Inside his head he smirked, they really weren't as subtle as they thought.

Grabbing the books he needed, he put the rest in his locker and reached out to shut the door, not even reacting to the face that appeared smiling, right behind it.

"Hello Tom," Alex sighed, turning to walk down the hall to english, the eyes following him every step of the way.

Tom gaped, "how do you _do_ that?!" He whisper-yelled at Alex. A smirk tugged on the spy's lips. "Trick of the trade."

Tom just shook his head as they walked into the classroom together, immediately heading to their custom spots in the back of the room, where it was harder for people to stare without being called out by the teacher. They quickly settled back into their old routine, smiling and laughing. Tom was proud, he was one of the only one's who could bring a slight smile to the stoic, emotionless face of the spy. Truthfully, Alex had been back a week, but he was only just returning to school after finishing some other business and settling down with his new _father._

"So," Tom whispered as the teacher began to take roll, "He finally did it?"

Alex nodded happily, "Yeah," he responded, "finalized it yesterday." Both turned their attention to the front, eager to see their classmates reactions. The teacher paused in confusion. "Alex… Daniels?" He called. With a smile that radiated pure happiness he answered, "Here!"

Snickers sounded from around the room, unfortunately a sound he was used to.

"Druggie, he said _Daniels_ not _Rider._ " Josh, one of the popular boys on the football team, smirked. ( _ **AN: I am American, but I am referring to soccer here because I am not a complete duntz who can't use lingo)**_ Alex more than happily returned the smirk, before turning back to the teacher. "Yessir, you met Ben yesterday, when he came to re-enroll me?" His teacher smiled and nodded, "ah yes, the young army lad, correct?"

"Yessir," Alex replied. This drew more snickers from the class and Josh turned around again. "HA! One from the army? How are you going to keep up your drug habit Rider?"

Alex grit his teeth and groaned, "For the last time, I am _not_ a druggie." Josh merely smirked and turned back around, playing the part of innocence perfectly. Inside his head, Alex groaned again. Oh how rumors would fly. And for a while they did. Until that is, the changes made themselves known. Alex truly seemed lighter, happier, and actually smiled, and many of the kids who had bullied him before backed off, unnerved by this change, save for the football team and other jocks of course.

Only four months passed during this time and things were looking up for Alex (mainly his grades.) Then, everything changed. Again.

 **AN: Just think of this as a prologue, a little bit to give context into the situation. I kinda have an idea where this story is going, but feel free to leave a review with your opinion as well as ideas of what you'd like to see. Yeah. OK then. REVIEW!**


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